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Category: Best-Of Lists

Please ramp up your Halloween anxiety with this YouTube playlist of my favorite scary records! It’s not meant to be comprehensive–these are the ones we regularly blast out into the street when we await trick-or-treaters in the driveway, a firepot in front of us and libations beside us (tonight: a single barrel Four Roses). It’s heavy on Roky, Dead Moon, The Cramps, and Screamin’ Jay, but it ranges into punk, rap, jazz, and country, too.

Also, what would the end of the month be without an OCD update of my favorite records released this year? It’s been an outstanding one: after thinning the herd in September, I’m back up to 135 records I’d give a B+ or better to if they were my students (some of ’em do grow on you over time!). My list of reissues is up to 25 from 20 for those of you who range across the years or just think music’s been over for awhile. Sad to say, some new records (particularly the new Cloud Nothings) have not made it to my inner ear yet, but I got a sneakyloo listen to the new Pistol Annies and I’m betting heavy on that.

Overeem’s “Best of 2018,” two months from New Year’s

Tracy Thorn: Record

CupcaKe: Ephorize

Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed

JLin: Autobiography (Music from Wayne McGregor’s Autobiography)

Chloe x Halle: The Kids are Alright

The Internet: Hive Mind

Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!

Zeal & Ardor: Stranger Fruit

Noname: Room 25

Makaya McCraven: Universal Beings

Sly & Robbie and Nils Petter Molvaer: Nordub

Swamp Dogg: Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune

Orquesta Akokan: Orquesta Akokan

Pusha T: Daytona

Elza Soares: Deus É Mulher

John Prine: The Tree of Forgiveness

Berry: Everything, Compromised

JD Allen: Love Stone

Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer

Superchunk: What A Time to Be Alive

Mary Gauthier and Songwriting with Soldiers: Rifles and Rosary Beads

Toni Braxton: Sex & Cigarettes

Joe McPhee: Imaginary Numbers

Nidia: Nídia É Má, Nídia É Fudida

Fat Tony: 10,000 Hours

Blood Orange: Negro Swan

Subtle Degrees: A Dance That Empties

Daniel Carter: Seraphic Light

Alice Bag: Blue Print

The Necks: Body

Michot’s Melody Makers: Blood Moon

Hamell on Trial: The Night Guy

Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar

Quelle Chris & Jean Grae: Everything’s Fine

Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis: Wild! Wild! Wild!

James Brandon Lewis: Radiant Imprints

boygenius: EP

Mitski: Be the Cowboy

Tropical Fuck Storm: A Laughing Death in Meatspace

Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is a Reptile

Lisbon Freedom Unit: Praise of Our Folly

SOPHIE: The Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-insides

The Goon Sax: We’re Not Talking

Lyrics Born: Quite a Life

Pistol Annies: Interstate Gospel

Grupo Mono Blanco: ¡Fandango! Sones Jarochos from Veracruz

Ken Vandermark / Klaus Kugel / Mark Tokar: No-Exit Corner

Knife Knights: 1Time Mirage

Angelika Niescier: The Berlin Concert

Young Mothers: Morose

Kelela: Take Me Apart—The Remixes

No Age: Snares Like a Haircut

Kids See Ghosts: Kids See Ghosts

Sidi Toure: Toubalbero

Robyn: Honey

Neneh Cherry: Broken Politics

Tyshawn Sorey: Pillars

Wynton Marsalis & Friends: United We Swing–Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas

I’ve updated my sprawling list of very strong records released in 2018 with some really sharp new releases from September (see the above slideshow for most of those–plus I’ve bolded them below), plus I’ve trimmed some items that just weren’t hanging through further listening. Highlights?

A new record by the Aussie band Tropical Fuck Storm that may assist you with your stored rage and despair.

JLin’s terrific follow-up to the amazing dance record Black Origami, a bit of a soundtrack entitled Autobiography.

A stunning exhibition of lyrical flow and shining intelligence, riding atop a sparkling stream of beats, by the Chicago rapper Noname: Room 25 (approved by my students, who are no dummies).

The latest entry by the Nigerian-American MC Fat Tony, representing for Houston, TX, as well, 10,000 Hours, which stands with Room 25 as a bit of a shot across the crowded hip-hop bow. Mother Wit, in full effect, in both cases.

A desolate, beautiful release by an old soul-music vet who’s never been associated with that first adjective and has a complicated relationship with the second: Swamp Dogg’s Love, Loss, and AutoTune. It’s a joke–and it’s not.

…and the second record from an exciting, smart band from Brisbane (just kids–including one with a Go-Between pedigree), The Goon Sax. It’s called We’re Not Talking:

Tracy Thorn: Record

CupcaKe: Ephorize

Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed

Tropical Fuck Storm: A Laughing Death in Meatspace

JLin: Autobiography (Music from Wayne McGregor’s Autobiography)

Zeal & Ardor: Stranger Fruit

Noname: Room 25

Sly & Robbie and Nils Petter Molvaer: Nordub

Orquesta Akokan: Orquesta Akokan

Michot’s Melody Makers: Blood Moon

Pusha T: Daytona

Elza Soares: Deus É Mulher

John Prine: The Tree of Forgiveness

Blood Orange: Negro Swan

Chloe x Halle: The Kids are Alright

The Internet: Hive Mind

Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer

Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!

Berry: Everything, Compromised

JD Allen: Love Stone

Superchunk: What A Time to Be Alive

Mary Gauthier and Songwriting with Soldier: Rifles and Rosary Beads

Toni Braxton: Sex & Cigarettes

Joe McPhee: Imaginary Numbers

Nidia: Nídia É Má, Nídia É Fudida

Fat Tony: 10,000 Hours

Swamp Dogg: Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune

Subtle Degrees: A Dance That Empties

Daniel Carter: Seraphic Light

Alice Bag: Blue Print

The Necks: Body

Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar

Quelle Chris & Jean Grae: Everything’s Fine

Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis: Wild! Wild! Wild!

James Brandon Lewis: Radiant Imprints

Mitski: Be the Cowboy

Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is a Reptile

Lisbon Freedom Unit: Praise of Our Folly

The Goon Sax: We’re Not Talking

Grupo Mono Blanco: ¡Fandango! Sones Jarochos from Veracruz

Ken Vandermark / Klaus Kugel / Mark Tokar: No-Exit Corner

Knife Knights: 1 Time Mirage

Angelika Niescier: The Berlin Concert

Young Mothers: Morose

No Age: Snares Like a Haircut

Kids See Ghosts: Kids See Ghosts

Sidi Toure: Toubalbero

Wynton Marsalis & Friends: United We Swing–Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas

My goal for blogging every day about my listening adventures has been blown to smithereens. We went on a long trip this summer, I was (happily, at least) jolted out of my daily rhythm, when we returned I began assaulting myself with the same old aggravating questions (why are you doing this? for whom? does the world need another music blog? you do realize you ain’t got beans to say, right)–and lo and behold, we’re in September and I haven’t posted for over a week–just three-four times in the last month.

It’s not like I haven’t been listening to music:

I indulged myself and bought some physical music from the great Chicago-by-way-of-Gary electronic visionary JLin, in anticipation of her new album, Autobiography, due near the end of this month. I am normally not a big fan of so-called EDM but lordy, her sounds just hypnotize me. She’s a young master of tone, rhythmic disruption, and ugly beauty. And you can dance to her. Far as the physical media goes? I just wanted to give her more money to make music with…

As a longtime devoted fan of the multi-reed magic of James Carter, I’ve long wondered about the Texas tenor John Hardee, whose composition “Lunatic” Carter covered back when he was a wunderkind. I managed to snag the above comp, which I’d never seen before, after trying to track down a source for Fresh Sounds releases; if you still buy CDs for some reason, I recommend it to you, as it specializes in reissues that might not even be streaming, if you can imagine that. Unsurprisingly, when you lay an ear to Hardee’s playing, you can hear what attracted Carter to it: it’s confidently lubricious, cool, controlled and randy all at the same time.

Speaking of saxophone, I love unabashedly such jazz records that explore black spiritual music (David Murray’s Spiritualsand Archie Shepp’sGoin’ Home spring immediately to mind). I am an atheist, but I freely admit I get power, hope, and motivation from the best of these works. I’ve perhaps overdocumented on this blog that I think very highly of the free (but sometimes deceptively not) Poughkeepsie hornman and sensei Joe McPhee, a man whose catalog is impossible to touch the bottom of without a couple of oxygen tanks. I shouldn’t have been surprised to find that McPhee released his own gospel record, nor was I surprised that it is ravishingly soulful without any compromising of the man’s improvisational principles. Whether he’s on reeds or brass–he speaks very clearly. Guess what? No YouTube. Also, I had to resort to SoulSeek. Just sayin’.

Welp, that’s it for recent listening I’m currently compelled to showcase. At least I’ve been keeping track of the albums from this calendar year that I am enjoying. We’re 67% of the way through this year, and I am going to need these releases to support me up to, through, and past the midterm elections–what records are you leaning on right now? Below are 130 LPs (we can still call them that, because they still play long) the teacher in me’d give a B+ or better. The Top 40, in bold, I’ve played over and over and tend to just get better to my earhole and soul, though a couple of recent releases (like The Necks, Mitski. and Blood Orange) I’m really just wagering that I’ll play over and over. In fact, I’m teaching (in a manner of speaking) Mitski tomorrow in my pop music/freshman comp class.

Note: I may be behind on reissues; I don’t rightly know.

Tracy Thorn: Record

Nona Hendryx and Gary Lucas: The World of Captain Beefheart

CupcaKe: Ephorize

Mary Gauthier and Songwriting with Soldier: Rifles and Rosary Beads

Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is a Reptile

Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer

Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed

JD Allen: Love Stone

Zeal & Ardor: Stranger Fruit

Chloe x Halle: The Kids are Alright

The Internet:Hive Mind

Mitski: Be the Cowboy

Berry: Everything, Compromised

Joe McPhee: Imaginary Numbers

Lisbon Freedom Unit:Praise of Our Folly

Superchunk: What A Time to Be Alive

Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar

Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!

Sly & Robbie and Nils Petter Molvaer: Nordub

Orquesta Akokan: Orquesta Akokan

Sidi Toure: Toubalbero

Quelle Chris & Jean Grae: Everything’s Fine

No Age: Snares Like a Haircut

The Necks: Body

Grupo Mono Blanco: ¡Fandango! Sones Jarochos from Veracruz

Elza Soares: Deus É Mulher

John Prine: The Tree of Forgiveness

Blood Orange: Negro Swan

Jinx Lennon: Grow a Pair

Pusha T: Daytona

Toni Braxton: Sex & Cigarettes

Nidia: Nídia É Má, Nídia É Fudida

Subtle Degrees: A Dance That Empties

Kids See Ghosts: Kids See Ghosts

Alice Bag: Blue Print

James Brandon Lewis: Radiant Imprints

Ken Vandermark / Klaus Kugel / Mark Tokar: No-Exit Corner

Jonghyun: Poet / Artist

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever: Hope Downs

Ivo Perlman and Matthew Shipp: Oneness

Halu Mergia: Lalu Balu

The Thing: Again

Jeffrey Lewis: Works by Tuli Kupferberg

Bombino: Deran

Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: An Angel Fell

Dave Holland: Uncharted Territories

Rapsody: Laila’s Wisdom

Sarayah: Feel the Vibe

Tierra Whack: Whack World

Lori McKenna: The Tree

Nas: Nasir

Speedy Ortiz: Twerp Verse

Courtney Barnett: Tell Me How You Really Feel

Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy

Evan Parker, Barry Guy, and Paul Lytton: Music for David Mossman

Salim Washington: Dogon Revisited

Angelika Niescier: The Berlin Concert

Beats Antique: Shadowbox

Wynton Marsalis & Friends: United We Swing–Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas

I was on the road half of July and not able to search the nooks and crannies of the many music scenes making life bearable in this world where humans are supposedly safer, better educated, and healthier than they’ve ever been–I’m a science advocate, but in this revelation I’m a bit insecure. Still, 15 new records added to my list of gooduns, and five records added to my list of stellar reissues. Making waves on my chart, which is a bit loosely ordered but starting to reflect my feelings about the quality and durability of its contents:

Kid Cudi and —–‘s project Kids See Ghosts, which excites me sonically almost every track–and very much against my will (my former Hickman High School Hip Hop Club members, should any of them read this, will be ROTFLOLing at this fact, as I scoffed at their Cudi-philism constantly–they would vaunt nothing else–during our single year of existence).

The great West Coast punk veteran Alice Bag, whose (relatively) old memoir may be adding value to her new record.

Subtle Degrees’ intense and madly repetitive A Dance That Empties, a jazz assault that has made my heart race pleasantly every listen.

The ageless diva Elza Soares–calling her a Brazilian Tina Turner doesn’t even do her justice, and the music behind her will challenge and delight your ear.

Freddie Gibbs’ Freddie. I’ve not been moved by Mr. Gibbs in the past–despite the hype and the decent beats, he’s a hip hop boor to the max–but his dedicated to keeping it brief and his flow makes me forgive the rip-off/homage to Teddy.

The Internet’s Hive Mind: If I weren’t feeling a bit emotionally naked at present, and trusted my instincts more, this subtle, grooveful, encouraging, and seductively muted gem may have already invaded my Top 5. Syd’s a persuasive and beguiling sprite, but Steve Lacy just might be a Curtis Mayfield for the 21st century. Just might.

Anyhow, here’s my update, with stuff having moved up and down in my esteem, such as that is. In bold are the records I’ve really, really tested and tried to order, but goddam it, Heraclitus is laughing at me as I struggle:

Tracy Thorn: Record

Nona Hendryx and Gary Lucas: The World of Captain Beefheart

CupcaKe: Ephorize

Mary Gauthier and Songwriting with Soldier: Rifles and Rosary Beads

Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is a Reptile

Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer

Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed

JD Allen: Love Stone

Berry: Everything, Compromised

Joe McPhee: Imaginary Numbers

Chloe x Halle: The Kids are Alright

Superchunk: What A Time to Be Alive

The Internet:Hive Mind

Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar

Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!

Sly & Robbie and Nils Petter Molvaer: Nordub

Orquesta Akokan: Orquesta Akokan

Sidi Toure: Toubalbero

Quelle Chris & Jean Grae: Everything’s Fine

No Age: Snares Like a Haircut

Grupo Mono Blanco: ¡Fandango! Sones Jarochos from Veracruz

Elza Soares: Deus É Mulher

John Prine: The Tree of Forgiveness

Zeal & Ardor: Stranger Fruit

Dave Holland: Uncharted Territories

Toni Braxton: Sex & Cigarettes

Nidia: Nídia É Má, Nídia É Fudida

Subtle Degrees: A Dance That Empties

Kids See Ghosts:Kids See Ghosts

Alice Bag:Blue Print

Wynton Marsalis & Friends: United We Swing–Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas

Good golly, folks–it’s a good year in pop music when after 12 months you can get behind almost a hundred records you’ve enjoyed. It’s still a few days shy of July, and I’ve listened to 95 I’d give a B+ (or 7.5–grade inflation if that’s equivalent!) or better. It would have been 96, but somehow I lost one in the text transfer that I cannot ferret out. The bold-faced albums are in priority order from the ones I love most to love a whole lot; 25-50 are jockeying for position; and the rest are kind of in grab-bag, I’m-too-mentally-tired-to-deal formation.

I think I mentioned it last time, but 2018 has been a fantastic year for female artists. Also, guitar bands are starting to wake up (no pun intended) and address the shit-show we have on our hands. The jazz world is asserting itself, especially the free improvisors who have feet inside. Reissues: hard to keep up with, especially Atlanta’s Dust-to-Digital, who just released two terrific and typically well-appointed boxes that repay concentration and multiple listens. Personally, falling under the spell of Apple Music has vastly increased my, um, unique listens (at the expense of old faves I’ve always played a lot), and the exploration of electronic music and r&b fellow fanatics have pushed me to continues to pay dividends as far as picking beauties is concerned.

I wish I could link all these, but goddam you can copy and paste into a browser, can’t ya? Just try to pay an artist as much as possible if you can.

Tracy Thorn: Record

Nona Hendryx and Gary Lucas: The World of Captain Beefheart

CupcaKe: Ephorize

Mary Gauthier and Songwriting with Soldier: Rifles and Rosary Beads

Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is a Reptile

Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer

Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed

JD Allen: Love Stone

Berry: Everything, Compromised

Joe McPhee: Imaginary Numbers

Chloe x Halle: The Kids are Alright

Superchunk: What A Time to Be Alive

Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar

Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!

Sly & Robbie and Nils Petter Molvaer: Nordub

Orquesta Akokan: Orquesta Akokan

Sidi Toure: Toubalbero

Quelle Chris & Jean Grae: Everything’s Fine

No Age: Snares Like a Haircut

Grupo Mono Blanco: ¡Fandango! Sones Jarochos from Veracruz

Elza Soares: Deus É Mulher

John Prine: The Tree of Forgiveness

Zeal & Ardor: Stranger Fruit

Dave Holland: Uncharted Territories

Toni Braxton: Sex & Cigarettes

Nidia: Nídia É Má, Nídia É Fudida

Wynton Marsalis & Friends: United We Swing–Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas

Time for my end-of-the-month update of records that fly in the face of the commonly heard assumption/argument/untested hypothesis that all the good music’s already been made. Based solely on what I’ve heard–much, but I know ears that have taken in far more–this calendar year’s produced 85 records I’d give a B+ or better to (I’m a teacher–as much as I think grades are institutionalized violence), it’s what I’ve got. By the way, they are ranked in order of most powerful in their effects upon me to least–but even #76 reaches me.

It’s a damn great year, in particular, for creative, outspoken women (no surprise), improvising musicians, artists of color and guitar bands (how ’bout that?). And, as always, plenty of old digs are proving they still got game–including one of the very oldest, and very best.

You’ve got the power at your fingertips to stream any of these, so dig in; do what I made my students do, and just pick 5-10 you’ve never heard of and try two-three tracks from each. But do keep an open mind, and remember what millennium you’re traipsing around in.

Tracy Thorn: Record

Nona Hendryx and Gary Lucas: The World of Captain Beefheart

Berry: Everything, Compromised

CupcaKe: Ephorize

Mary Gauthier and Songwriting with Soldier: Rifles and Rosary Beads

Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is a Reptile

Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer

Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed

Joe McPhee: Imaginary Numbers

Chloe x Halle: The Kids are Alright

Superchunk: What A Time to Be Alive

Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar

Jinx Lennon: Grow a Pair

Parquet Courts: Wide Awake!

Sly & Robbie and Nils Petter Molvaer: Nordub

Orquesta Akokan: Orquesta Akokan

Sidi Toure: Toubalbero

Quelle Chris & Jean Grae: Everything’s Fine

Grupo Mono Blanco: ¡Fandango! Sones Jarochos from Veracruz

John Prine: The Tree of Forgiveness

Evan Parker, Barry Guy, and Paul Lytton: Music for David Mossman

Jonghyun: Poet / Artist

Halu Mergia: Lalu Balu

Jeffrey Lewis: Works by Tuli Kupferberg

Willie Nelson: Last Man Standing

Bombino: Deran

Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: An Angel Fell

Rapsody: Laila’s Wisdom

Courtney Barnett: Tell Me How You Really Feel

Peter Brotzmann and Fred Lonberg-Holm: Ouroboros

Toni Braxton: Sex & Cigarettes

Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy

Salim Washington: Dogon Revisited

Angelika Niescier: The Berlin Concert

Charge It to The Game: House with a Pool

JPEGMAFIA: Veteran

Various Artists: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun…and Rights!!!

Wussy: What Heaven is Like

No Age: Snares Like a Haircut

Marc Sinan & Oğuz Büyükberber: White

Meshell Ndegeocello: Ventriloquism

Cardi B: Invasion of Privacy

Shopping: The Official Body

The Thing: Again

Ebo Taylor: Yen Ara

Alice Bag: Blue Print

Dana Murray: Negro Manifesto

David Murray (featuring Saul Williams): Blues for Memo

Pusha T: Daytona

Shame: Songs of Praise

Henry Threadgill: Dirt..and More Dirt

Hot Snakes: Jericho Sirens

Ceramic Dog: YRU Still Here?

Van Morrison & Joey DeFrancesco: You’re Driving Me Crazy

Various Artists/Sahel Sounds: Field Recordings

Kendrick Lamar, et al: Black Panther—Music from and Inspired by the Film

The Revelators: In which the Revelators perform live renditions of selections from the Billy Childish songbook

Against All Logic: 2012-2017

Entourage: Ceremony of Dreams—Studio Sessions & Outtakes 1972-1977

Camarao: The Imaginary Soundtrack to a Brazilian Western Movie

Various Artists: Africa Scream Contest, Volume 2

Wussy: Getting Better

Short-shrift Division:

Nicole and sailed home from our vacation on the vibraphone mastery of the great Milt Jackson. I put five albums together on a playlist, but these two made leaving Excelsior Springs a shade less painless:

Damn–50 solid records already and we ain’t half finished? I’d say that’s a solid rebuke to the sourpusses who are ever pronouncing our music a corpse. And I’d go a mite further and say the list also incorporates a rebuke to those knicker-twisted souls who are wondering when our music is gonna take on, you know, the thing–several of the slabs listed below do so and how, without spoiling their sounds (politics can do that, you know). Take a dive into something below that’s mysterious, I invite you.

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Tracy Thorn: Record

Nona Hendryx and Gary Lucas: The World of Captain Beefheart

Jinx Lennon: Grow a Pair

Joe McPhee: Imaginary Numbers

Chloe x Halle: The Kids are Alright

Quelle Chris & Jean Grae: Everything’s Fine

Berry: Everything, Compromised

CupcaKe: Ephorize

Mary Gauthier and Songwriting with Soldier: Rifles and Rosary Beads

Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is a Reptile

John Prine: The Tree of Forgiveness

JPEGMAFIA: Veteran

Superchunk: What A Time to Be Alive

Evan Parker, Barry Guy, and Paul Lytton: Music for David Mossman

Rapsody: Laila’s Wisdom

Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar

Sly & Robbie and Nils Petter Molvaer: Nordub

Orquesta Akokan: Orquesta Akokan

Jonghyun: Poet / Artist

Halu Mergia: Lalu Balu

Jeffrey Lewis: Works by Tuli Kupferberg

Various Artists/Sahel Sounds: Field Recordings

Toni Braxton: Sex & Cigarettes

Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy

Various Artists: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun…and Rights!!!

No Age: Snares Like a Haircut

Meshell Ndegeocello: Ventriloquism

Cardi B: Invasion of Privacy

Dana Murray: Negro Manifesto

Shopping: The Official Body

Ebo Taylor: Yen Ara

Kris Davis and Craig Taborn: Octopus

Tal National: Tantabara

Shame: Songs of Praise

Hot Snakes: Jericho Sirens

David Murray (featuring Saul Williams): Blues for Memo

Rich Krueger: Life Ain’t That Long

Alice Bag: Blue Print

Bettye LaVette: Things Have Changed

MAST: Thelonious Sphere Monk

Tallawit Timbouctou: Takamba WhatsApp 2018

Amy Rigby: The Old Guys

Kendrick Lamar, et al: Black Panther—Music from and Inspired by the Film